Economics Nobel to Angus Deaton

STOCKHOLM, Oct 12: The 2015 Nobel Prize in Economics has been awarded to Scottish micro-economist Angus Deaton, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced here on Monday.

According to an academy statement, Deaton, 69, was awarded “for his alysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare”.

“More than anyone else, Angus Deaton has enhanced the understanding of individual consumption choices which is crucial to design economic policy that promotes welfare and reduces poverty,” it said.

By linking detailed individual choices and aggregate outcomes, his research has helped transform the fields of microeconomics, macroeconomics, and development economics, the statement added. Deaton has spearheaded the use of household survey data in developing countries, especially data on consumption, to measure living standards and poverty, the academy said.  Deaton was honoured for three related achievements: for developing with his colleague John Muellbauer around 1980 a system for estimating the demand for different goods; studies of the link between consumption and income that he conducted around 1990; and the work he carried out in later decades on measuring living standards and poverty in developing countries with the help of household surveys.

Answering questions at the press conference after the announcement, Deaton said he was “surprised and delighted” to win the prize. Deaton was born in Edinburgh and received his PhD at Cambridge University.

Last year, the award - which is officially known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in memory of Alfred Nobel - went to French economist Jean Tirole for his pioneering work on the regulation of large companies. (IANS)